


Who We Were

by TrishaCollins



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Keith steals food, TALK YOU STUPIDS, past bullying mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 11:59:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15706782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: After the Paladins arrived, James thought everything would be over. It turns out reality never kind, and the past is a persistent master.





	Who We Were

The power packs had eliminated the need for bullets, and the energy it took to charge was nearly zilch. 

Which meant there was nothing to lose in his game of targets. He had too much energy that needed to be burned off to care.

Voltron was here, sort of. They had left the lions somewhere safer than here, but they were on the planet. The pilots. 

It felt like everything he had been training for since Holt had returned. But he couldn’t make himself feel glad. He just felt tired. The minutia he had used to keep himself moving forward was gone.

It was someone else’s problem.

But it still didn’t feel like someone else’s problem. 

He shifted the training program without looking down, shifting to moving targets, hoping it would knock something out of his head so he could sleep. 

Again and again the system registered clean shots, spared civilians, and objectives overcome. He dropped his rifle to switch to his side arm, but nothing changed. 

This was his life, his life in the ruins, except in the ruins the enemies fought back. 

Alpha was a prickle of warning in the back of his mind. Someone had gone through the hanger and was heading to the range. Someone was here. Someone Alpha didn’t recognize.

Which meant that it was one of the Paladins. They were the only ones with the clearance to get into Holt’s work area. Maybe they were looking for a bathroom. 

He advanced the training protocol, trying to soothe Alpha’s uneasiness with those thoughts. It was after midnight, nobody had any reason to be wondering around. 

He paused when the door opened behind him, turning his head a little to get a look at the person who was there.

Keith didn’t look surprised to see him, and that made something in his chest tighten.

“Down the hall, second door on the left. The showers are through the door inside.” He adjusted the training gun, reaching for the screen. 

“I wasn’t looking for the bathroom.” Keith said, voice soft.

He paused, considering the words and the implications of Keith looking for him. He’d been an asshole as a kid, an asshole as a teenager, and most of the time that Keith had been back they had been snapping back and forth.

But Keith hadn’t been reacting like he’d expecting, Keith had mostly been calm, even when Shiro was not right next to him, guiding his every move. 

He let the air out of his chest, metering the sigh so it wouldn’t make noise. “There’s a lounge a bit down the hall, then.”

Keith looked started, face tensing, then relaxing. “Sure.”

He put the gear up, shutting down the sim, and rubbing a crick out of his neck as he stepped down from the platform. 

The lights flickered off around them.

“Nice.”

“Holt’s work. He doesn’t like training us in live fire.” He said, slow, still wary. 

“Nicer than Allura.” Keith snorted. “But, well, she had reason.” 

“Sure. It’s a war and nobody can afford the time to be nice.”

He had the feeling he’d caught Keith off guard again, just from the slight change to his expression. 

He looked away rather than try to read too deeply into it. “This way.”

Keith fell into step – next to him, not behind him. He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.

“Figured you would still be settling.” He said, after a few moments of the silence feeling too deep and uncomfortable.

“We didn’t bring much. Shiro needed to talk with Iverson about something.”

And Keith had come looking for him? “What time clock are you on? After midnight, here.”

Keith snorted. “So what’s your excuse?”

“I get keyed up after an op. Picking you up was shorter than a normal op, my body still thinks I need to be moving.” It was honest, at least.

Keith gave him that look again, head tilting. “I didn’t know it was you at first.”

He rolled his eyes. “I doubt you’ve thought much of me in the past few years.”

“No, I haven’t.” 

Ouch. Not that he’d expected much more, but still, ouch. Keith could be blunt to the point of trauma. He palmed open the lounge they’d converted out of an old office, paneled neatly with foam squares and a battered couch they had brought back from an op. Veronica had laughed at them, but the couch was comfortable and he knew she slept on it too.

He grabbed one of the mismatched chairs and eased himself down. “There’s energy bars in the cupboard, if you want something. Water too.”

Keith hmmed, and went to explore, coming back with two bottles of water and a pair of energy bars, wordlessly offering half of his loot to him.

He took them, because he was hungry. 

“So. You’re in charge of the MFEs.” Keith said, slow.

He took a swig of the water, nodding slightly.

“How’d you end up with that?” Keith asked, quiet.

“How’d you end up with Voltron?” He returned.

“Blue lion kidnapped me and took me to a spaceship.” Keith grinned. The expression caught him completely off guard, it relaxed part of his face, brightened his eyes until he looked…well. Normal. 

“Holt needed test pilots, they volunteered us. We’d been scoring the highest in the sims so. That’s us.” He shrugged. “Turns out Altean tech is touchy, the brass would love to put someone else in the seat.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out. 

“They’re idiots then.” Keith stated, no preamble, no coding to soften the words. “You wouldn’t have survived this long if you couldn’t handle the tech.” 

“A lot of people didn’t.” 

Keith gave him a look, then looked away. 

“We’ve been waiting.” He said, soft.

“We would have been here sooner, if we could.” Keith said. “It was only a year for us.”

A year…if it had only taken them a year then it would have been six months after the galra invaded. He tried not to think about how many lives could have been saved. “We don’t get to choose the war.” 

“No.” Keith agreed. 

He took a deep breath. “Look. I was an asshole. A huge one. I was shitty kid, and I did a lot of stuff I shouldn’t have. Earth needs Voltron, and I and my team will follow you.”

Keith nodded, looking at his water bottle. 

He looked down, tensing his shoulders. “And I’m sorry. For what it’s worth. Like I said, I was an asshole. I don’t have an excuse. What I did was wrong, what I participated…you never deserved any of that. And…I’m not asking for you to trust me, or whatever. Even forgive me. I just hope that we can work together for our people.” 

“I was kind of a jerk too.” Keith said, shrugging. “We were kids. We’re not. Now.”

“You were a jerk because I didn’t give you an option to not be a jerk.” He snorted. “I didn’t know. That your dad was dead.”

“You still hung up on that?” 

“My parents…” He trailed off, looking away. “A lot of people here have lost family. I don’t know that I wouldn’t have said anything about yours if I knew, I might have. I was jerk. But now. I am sorry.” 

“I can’t say that I was happy to see you in charge of Earth’s forces.”

He snorted at the word. “I’m not in charge of anything.”

“You are, even if they don’t see it. But. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.” Keith said slowly, and offered his hand. 

He stared at it, confused. 

“Keith. Kogane. I’m from outside of Tucson.” 

He blinked, then slowly reached to take the hand. “James. Griffin. Me too.”

“I hear you’re a pretty good pilot.” Keith’s smile was slow, careful.

“You too. They still haven’t beat your sim scores.” 

Keith let go, sitting back. “I haven’t tried any of the new OS.”

“I can show you. The sims, at least. The MFEs are touchy. They really are particular.” He admitted, scratching at his chin in lieu of something to do with his hands. 

“Well. Let’s go see then, since neither of us can sleep.” 

It was probably more of a peace offering than he deserved, but he wasn’t going to deny Keith the chance. 

“Sure.”


End file.
